Download Audience Sets the Stage for Unique Theatrical

Audience Sets the Stage for Unique
Theatrical Experience
By CHRISTINE BORDEN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 | 9:30 pm
Category: Arts & Entertainment > Theater
The humor of The Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble is incidental, though that is not to say the group
of improvisational actors is not talented or hilarious. In fact, throughout most of "An Evening of Playback
Theatre," the audience had its share of hearty chuckles. But Playback Theatre allowed others to open up
and share themselves through, even triumphing humor, in a way that could only be described as "so
Berkeley."
The core of the performance centered around four stories volunteered from the audience. The storytellers
sat onstage, delved into the story or memory, filled in any context and chose actors to portray themselves.
On Saturday night, the storytelling began with a memory of connection between daughter and mother.
The cast picked up on elements of humor in this first story, capitalizing on the relationship between the
over-practical German mother and her daughter, who had just finished a program in women's studies.
The actors brought these figures to life onstage as they went back and forth butting heads. In the end,
though, as a symbolic red cape was passed from daughter to mother, the actors paused to reflect on this
moment of acceptance. They expressed the emotions of pride and contentment when the original
storyteller could not.
Other storytellers were characters themselves, with strong voices and robust senses of humor. The third
storyteller, an Iraqi man named Salaam, detailed a trip to Idaho Falls to speak about life in Iraq. To make
life easier in the States, he said he calls his country "I-raq" and calls himself "Salem." In the airport, he
puts himself in a wheelchair to safeguard from discrimination. But the real story took place in Idaho,
when he delivered his speech and opened the floor for questions such as "Why do you have green eyes?"
and "Why do all Middle Easterners hate women?" At first, he had felt trapped in Berkeley, but after his
trip he began to feel homesick but not for Iraq.
Playback imbued this Berkeley love. Portraying his return to the San Francisco airport, they created an
aura of welcome and cheerfulness, but this was not limited to the stage. The whole theatre was a
microcosm of Berkeley, a feeling of not-just political liberalness. It felt like a safe space in which everyone
could share freely-their faults included. Near the end of the night, a herd of hands shot up to tell the last
story.
It was almost too perfect when the last storyteller admitted that she was trying to move to Berkeley
because everything was just so much better here. Marcia's story happened the night before, and perhaps it
was the freshness of the memory that allowed her to be so candid. By this time, the audience had fully
warmed up to each other when she began her story of looking for her first Berkeley friend in a Shattuck
Avenue bar. Instead of approaching a woman she thought looked so cool and "so Berkeley," she chickened
out and did "the nasty dance" with a guy named Sam.
The performers highlighted her intense longing to be accepted, to belong to a place she idolized so much.
All four stories formed a cohesive performance: Each storyteller had a desire to find a place of their own,
whether it was in their thoughts, in someone else or somewhere else. Playback couldn't have written a
better show.
This improvisational theater group offered a unique experience in that the actors listened and reacted to
the audience rather than acted for them. The night had a family feel to it, like stepping into a room of
familiar faces and hearing about everyone's days. People were open to describing emotionally-charged
memories and sharing their regrets. It wasn't your typical night at the theater-this time it was the
audience carrying the brunt of the performance.
The memories brought to the stage this night were varied, but Playback managed to tie them all together.
Each performance recalled different emotions, like pathos and confusion and shame, but somehow the
production was uplifting, not heavy. The crowd rose to give the actors a standing ovation, but it seemed
liked the real stars of the night were the people courageous and generous enough to grace the room with a
peak inside their hearts and minds.